Thanks to everyone for the kind words. You are all right on point. The trip will be a treasure for our family for the rest of our years.
Part 4: Grand CanyonI had been to this park once before, when I was in my early 20's and single. It was a college bus tour, and we had all of an hour. Enough time to see the visitors center and the closest overlook.
We were really looking forward to "experiencing" this park. Despite all the comments on the forum, we booked 5 full nights at the village. In hind site, the forum was right. We were ready after 2 nights.
The campground does have a fantastic location and access to the shuttle. However, we really didn't appreciate anything else about it. The campsite itself was just a sardine can, and it offered no reason to sit outside. That was okay though. By the end of the day, we were ready for some A/C, TV and privacy.
The weather was great for us, aside from the wind. It was windy to the point of chasing us indoors on several occasions.
We walked the rim trail for roughly 5-7 miles. We also hiked the Kaibob down to "ooh ahh point". We had planned to go all the way to Skeleton Key, but stopped short, not because of difficulty, but because I couldn't stomach watching my boys walk along the steep drop offs. Much of the hike had my Daddy senses on high alert. The hike was still extremely rewarding and exceeded my expectations! A ranger mentioned that less than 5% of visitors ever get below the rim. I'm glad we did, as it was like seeing a new park.
This ranger was an incredible story teller. We did the sunset walk with him. Anyone else been meet him?
Here's part of the Kiabob trail.
We have tons and tons of photos, but I'll stop here. It's easy to find beautiful photos of the canyon, thought I'd share a few you might not find elsewhere.
We caught two sunrises and two sunsets. Really, beyond that and a few hikes and a few ranger programs, I don't know what else we would have done. We could have rafted or done the mule ride or helicopter, all of which were out of the budget.
I'm leaving out so many cool experiences though...the wonderful ranger that swore the boys in, the laundry experience, my wife and one son being charged by an elk protecting her calf (they hid behind an Italian couple's car, and they drove off and left her for dead), the asian guy that had to get one inch closer for that perfect photo, the mountain lion we saw on the drive into the park...the list goes on and on.
In all, I'll repeat what I hear from lots of folks, it's a must see park for sure, but not the kind of place I would want an extended visit at (many of the other parks were).